Saturday, 30 March 2013

This weekend officially sucks, normally if I work a weekend I work 50% of it, this weekend I work 51.1% of it! Officially over half a weekend at work, because we lose an hour..... so don't forget to put your clocks forward.

Friday, 29 March 2013

Today we headed along the road to see if we could pick up some decorating tips from the second grandest house in the area, (obviously my house is the grandest, well the occupants are anyway).
We headed to a very cold Seaton Deleval Hall. to find out that we had arrived far too early. So we went to boundary mill in Shiremoor where Erin chose her easter present. A cow shaped gravy jug. She's definitely one of a kind!

We headed back to the Hall knowing it had now opened and had a nose around the place. At the moment it is a little threadbare, with extensive renovations currently taking place. A lot of the hall is closed, so I look forward to going back. The one thought I have left with is that I bet that they threw some amazing parties!!!

Here is the hall from the south in all its splendour....

I'm off to a gig tonight, but think by the time I get home it would be too late to blog. So have a good one.

Thursday, 28 March 2013

As revealed the other day, we have purchased our National Trust season tickets, and are determined to make the most out of it. Today we headed to Cragside in the Northumberland national park.
For those that don't know about Cragside, look it up, this isn't some sort of historical information blog. ;) (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside/)
I am sat typing up this blog struggling to stay awake due to the amount of walking we did today, I feel like I should wake up 3 stone lighter tomorrow (if only it was that easy). That said, we probably still covered less than a third of the estate. Erin enjoyed the whole day, especially taking us around the house, telling us all the bits she could remember from when she travelled there with the school.
If I was into reviewing days out this would definitely get 5 stars, a very peaceful and enjoyable day out, but this isn't that sort of day either.
Thats enough from me for now....

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

As in we must have been crazy going to play. It was about 2°C but with the windchill it felt more like minus 5. We had hail, we had snow, we even had a little bit of sunshine. But importantly the 4 of us had fun, there was even a little bit of decent golf played throughout the day.

Monday, 25 March 2013

Today I bring you somewhere I visited many times as a child with my parents. Its just behind the Priory in Tynemouth, and we would often head along to feel the sea spraying in our face and just stand and watch the sea for a bit. Marvelling at its power.
This is the mouth of what was once one of the biggest shipbuilding rivers in the world, the Tyne.
For all I very much class myself as a Scotsman, I very much class the North East of England as my home, that is probably because I have spent over 30 years of my 35 year existence here.
It was a very, very cold morning again this morning, for those that follow me on instagram (@lynchio7) you would have seen how wrapped up I was for this image. That said I was still crying with the cold wind whipping into my eyes. and my fingers were pretty much frozen.

Sunday, 24 March 2013

This weekend has had a bit of a wedding theme to it. Yesterday I was out on one of my best friends stag nights, and let my hair down (probably a little too much) and today I went to meet a bride and groom who are planning an amazing country style wedding in the village of Cambo, Northumberland.
Cambo is probably most famous for Wallington Hall and the stone Dragons heads, so whilst i was in the area I thought I would snap off a couple of pictures.

I hope that by June it is a bit warmer however as it was absolutely freezing this morning, my fingers ached with the cold from walking around the village. I always feel very privileged when I am chosen to shoot someones wedding and this year is shaping to be a great one. I get to meet some amazing people, and get to shoot at some stunning venues. This year I am shooting at Lumley Castle, South Causey Inn, Cambo Church, Copthorne Hotel amongst others. I love the challenge that the variety of venues gives. If you know someone thats getting married then feel free to pass on my details (Sales mode on!).

Saturday, 23 March 2013

This morning I headed out to do a little bit of work for a friend who has set up a Golf Society that is open to all, in their own words they aim to bring together disabled and able bodied golfers to help improve their game. Their aim is for inclusiveness not exclusiveness. This morning they had their first competition of the year, so I headed along to take some promotional shots for them.
The fact that these guys went ahead and played today shows how serious they are about their inclusiveness, the temperature when I arrived was 1ºC and that quickly dropped to zero. Just as the guys headed out to tee off a flurry of snow started and the wind was whipping across the course, which was the very open Newcastle United Golf Course (http://www.newcastleunitedgolfclub.co.uk) so I wasn't at all envious as the intrepid tensome set off in three groups.

My picture today is of Hack2Hole organiser Paul Watson teeing off at the first, I have to tell you this was his second attempt at teeing off, sorry Paul, with his first attempt going 30 yards forward and left into the rough, must have been the pressure of the camera!

If you want more information on Hack 2 Hole then follow them on twitter (https://twitter.com/hack2hole)

Friday, 22 March 2013

I can't remember if I have talked about when my dad used to take me through the harbour in Blyth on a Saturday morning after the shopping, to see if there were any ships on and this is something I have continued to do with my own daughter whenever I take Christine to work.
We also go down to the beach to see if the tide is in, and to see if there is anything happening on the sea. Today's picture is just this scene, from inside the car. Its something I enjoy so I'm sharing it with you.

Thursday, 21 March 2013

These 12 hour shifts are really starting to get in the way of this blog and that just isn't on. Unfortunately the 12 hour shifts are what pay my bills, so unless someone wants to match my wages to run this blog then we are going to be stuck with filler days like this. To be fair to me even TV shows do it. 24 was notorious for it. So here is today's filler image.
This is one of my little friends that helps keep me sane whilst at work.

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Each school day Erin sits at the dining table, has her breakfast and then does her spellings for the week. This is something she seems to excel at, its something she generally enjoys, until she forgets one, and then all hell breaks loose. How do you tell a six your old child that its natural that they will struggle with some of the words she gets given, some of them I struggle with, like hesitantly or anxiously. She takes it all very personally when she does get one wrong. But as I say she generally does pretty well.
I think she has only gotten 1 word wrong all year. I'm sure people think that we sit and drum the words in to her, we don't. We let her try and spell them on her own by sounding them out, and then if she doesn't get it correct, we show her the word and then go over it again the next day.

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Another attempt today to capture the power of a swelling sea. We are fast approaching the end of March and yet we don't really seem to be approaching the end of Winter very fast. The Daffodils which are so often picked for Mothers Day are still struggling to flower, and most of all the temperatures are still well below double figures.
The benefit of this is you get some awesome looking sea's. Today I missed high tide by about an hour, so again I didn't get the image I was really looking for, that said I think the image I have captured shows the power of mother nature reasonably well.

Although it may not look much, that sea wall is a good 3 or 4 metres high. The waves were breaking quite a bit further out which meant that by the time they reached the wall there wasn't anywhere as near as much power left in them.

Monday, 18 March 2013

Off work today and had another shoot, all good stuff! Lily was a little gem, she just loved telling her mum and dad what to do. So the white background is getting lots of use at the moment, but that doesn't mean I'm getting complacent.
Every time it comes out its important to dial in the levels to make sure the images come out as well as possible. To set up I always look for a toy or something similar to set up, I find this also helps bring the child out of their shell a little and also settle a little bit.
Today I had already set up but when Lily arrived we still took a couple of photos of Barney first. So I thought today, since I'm feeling quite lazy I would share one of those with you.

I love you, you love me, we're best friends as friends should be, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too.....

Sunday, 17 March 2013

A day on holiday.... yay. And a family day to boot .... yay. To celebrate that the Aliens hadn't in fact taken over the world and that the world wasn't yet coming to an end we decided to head out for a nice family walk this morning.
I had thought about taking advantage of Northumberland's ResFest, but decided against the crowds and extra expenditure on petrol since things are a little tight this month. ResFest is a weekend that Northumberland opens its doors to its residents (can you see how they came up with the name) and many of the regions top attractions either give half price or free admittance to those that pay council tax within the counties confines. I'm not a big fan of crowds, and part of the reason I had decided to do some extra overtime was to join English Heritage and the National Trust to have some family days out, so I will be able to go and enjoy the wonders that the North has to offer in less crowded fashion.

Anyway I seem to have gotten off the beaten track there a little. The 3 of us headed along to Old Hartley and had a lovely walk along Holywell Dene (http://www.holywelldene.org.uk), it was somewhat sodden underfoot but Erin had fun splashing in the puddles (believe it or not she had to be encouraged at first) and then later on playing pooh sticks on the bridge. We had hoped to spot some of the plentiful wildlife but I think that Erin may have scared them off somewhat.
Then we headed over to the coast and had a little wander along towards St Mary's island and down onto the rocks to take find some shells. I have to say it was a thoroughly pleasurable morning, and something I hope to do more and more throughout the year, especially after I have my memberships to EH and NT.

Friday, 15 March 2013

Tomorrow is the team's second pie Saturday, at some point I am sure I will be a little more adventurous, but for now I am going to stick to what I know and make a recipe inspired by my mother.
New Years day was always a day I looked forward to, as it meant home made steak and puff pastry pie day. Doesn't sound too great but the not so secret, secret ingredient was the beef links sausages. The steak where possible was always blade steak, something I haven't been able to replicate.
The reason it was so good was the fact that the steak just crumbled apart and the spice of the sausages added just the perfect amount of bite.
So I've been making it for my own little family for a while now, and recently changed it around a little, it was always a pie plate but when the guys and gals at work decided to have a pie day, rather than all cutting a slice of pie I thought why not make individual pies. And its a pain in the arse, but I feel they are worth it, most of the time.
So with the second pie day upon us, despite the fact I've done overtime this week and haven't had a day off I have again made steak pie. So I thought I would share a photo of them with you.

I think my food photography work still requires uite a lot of work, but will try my hardest to improve it. Who knows when it will come in handy. That said this was shot in available light with no flash, so I don't think its too bad!

Thursday, 14 March 2013

I've noticed recently that the North Sea has seemed very busy with ships, I'm not sure why but I know there is a weird looking platform not far off the coast at Blyth, looks a little bit like one of the alien ships from War of the Worlds, so maybe its something to do with that.
Maybe, just maybe its actually an alien invasion, I hope not, I haven't hoovered in the last couple of days. What the hell am I talking about, oh yeah, I've noticed that the sea has seemed busy, most days there seems to be at least 4 large ships within the horizon and thats not including the Ferry that heads in and out the Tyne on what seems like a daily basis. So today as I had a couple of minutes to spare on my way to pick the wife up I thought I would take a picture of one looking like it was going to crash into the lighthouse (if it had then maybe my Alien theory wouldn't look so silly).

For information on this rather fabulous looking vessel head to http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=636010639

I hope if the Aliens are invading that they at least wait until I have finished editing Josh and Harrys photoshoot, which is where I am off to now.

So toodles for now, and if the Aliens do invade and they aren't friendly then I am sad to have failed in my 365 project, but I think that would be an acceptable excuse.

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

What a stupid saying that is, if it was true planes would be grounded everyday, as they wouldn't be able to fly through them.

Anyway I prefer it when clouds have a golden lining, apart from anything they are worth more!
Today's image was supposed to be a sunset, but I was a little early and the clouds were building, so I shot what I could. Sorry Mal, no comet for me, no hope of seeing it through the snow clouds.

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

The Sun is out again, but its still bloody freezing. The idea for todays image was to capture the winter waves crashing against the rocks, but instead the sea was quite calm, so I had to choose something else to do.
For those that know me well, you will be aware that I am not a fan of heights, well not so much that, I'm not a fan of thinking I may fall. However in the name of this blog this morning I put my fears to one side and tried to ignore the freezing wind howling across my face as I walked out onto this peninsula.

Now I understand that it doesn't look that high or that narrow on the picture but it was about 3 foot across at its narrowest and its probably about 60 ft high, so I didn't fancy falling off, and the wind wasn't helping.

So today's picture is a labour of love I suppose, similar to yesterdays. A quest to bring you better images and images that hold a greater general interest. I want to be a better photographer, and will continue to try and develop my skills. Its pretty much the only hobby I have left now, and even then its not really a hobby, I get paid for work, so want to ensure I am giving the absolute best I can to my clients. Maybe I need to get a hobby. Hmmm, sorry this has headed off topic a little, I'm kind of just thinking out loud now.

Right the image.....

I think i need to start choosing the large size for the pictures for the blog from now on.

Monday, 11 March 2013

Its only a couple of weeks till the clocks go forward and yet here we are again, in the middle of another winter storm. Blizzards and icy roads are again likely to be the norm this week. That said, the snow is a little pathetic so far, and long may that last. I'm bored of the cold now, I want to get out more and take more interesting pictures. This morning on the way to work I forced myself out of the cold and into the bitterness that was the outside world. This nearly proved to be a fatal mistake.

You see it was another clambering across the rocks type morning and this time i slipped with my camera in my hand, and it took a rather nasty bang.... upon inspection, absolutely zero damage has been done. Hurrah Canon, I thank you for your build quality. The same can not be said for my rather dirty jeans :(

Anyway the reason for this exploration was to bring you an image that shows the gathering storm, just off the coast at one of my favourite photographic spots. Charlies Garden at Seaton Sluice. Like a small Marsden Rock, but closer, this place always fascinated me as a child. Over the years it has really diminished in size, and not in the same way that Wagon Wheels have (my hands are definitely bigger than when I was a child, although I think Wagon Wheels have also shrunk), but due to the massive power of the sea.

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Its Mothers Day, which means early rise for Daddy, and making breakfast in bed so the child can pretend that she has cooked up a feast for Mummy. So please bear with me as its still only 7am and I've been up for over an hour already. I foresee a nap on the sofa in my day today. I'm sure that constitutes something special for Mummy. If I'm napping then I'm not messing anything up, well apart from the sofa that I'm on, I may make that look a bit untidy.
Anyway I ramble, the fact is without Mothers we wouldn't be here. Simple. So take the opportunity today to tell your mum that you love her, and that you appreciate everything that she has done for you.
To be fair, similar to valentines day, we shouldn't need hallmark to tell us to do this, we should do it at every opportunity we get, because without being morose, you never know when the last time you will be, well not unless you are some kind of mental sociopath who is going to murder their own mother, in which case you probably have quite a good idea.
I'm sure later on today when I'm more about myself I will think that this probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had for a blog, but for now it will have to do as my brain is already fried from children's TV and being up at this ungodly hour.

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Saturday's are dance days in our house, well for Erin anyway, and therefore yeah for the whole family. Her dance class with Milly Performance starts at 12 o clock each week, so kind of dominates the whole day. Erin enjoys it and loves her teachers. The same as everything else though, the biggest problem for Erin is keeping her mouth shut long enough to actually learn anything.
Today she has an exam so the day is dominated even more by Dance, so today has been quite stressful, hair up in a bun that wanted to do anything but go into a bun, shoelaces that have knots in them that can only be compared to the sort of mess you find your ipod headphones in when they have been at the bottom of a bag for a week.

Friday, 8 March 2013

Days when I'm at the day Job tend to be hectic to say the least. So I take what opportunity to get a snap I take it. This morning it was a case of getting a snap of my Scottish themed breakfast.
All on the go!!

Thursday, 7 March 2013

Today's image is inspired by an amazing photographer from South Wales, who is also running a project blog. She has recently changed her facebook header photo to an image using scrabble tiles which I thought was awesome. So I decided to try the same but with abc candies. and lego people.

It hasn't turned out as well as I hoped but I have just put in a 14 hour shift at work, I will try again sometime soon.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Indeed what is the point, does any of this really matter?
Who care's I'm still gonna keep doing it, even when I really can't be bothered and have zero inspiration, I will find something mundane to shoot, last minute, just before I go to bed, before a 14 hour shift the next day, I will continue on, when every part of my being says just give in, no-one will notice.
This is a labour of love.
For anyone who says its not, try doing anything apart from the basics, like eating, breathing and pooing for 365 days in a row.

So today's labour of love is brought to you by my extension tubes which give a very narrow depth of field, and also totally manual focus, hand held. lit by an iphone LED.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Blyth has taken a bit of a beating over the years, its not the most affluent of places but that said its the same as anywhere else, it has its nice bits, and its not so nice bits.
Recently a local councillor who lives in the town and campaigns heavily for the town was caught calling it a dump, and saying that he goes to Cramlington to do his shopping. Thats funny, I would have thought as a councillor he should be doing something to attract people into the town.
For those that don't know Blyth that well, in the 80's it was given the unfortunate title of 'drugs capital of the North East', a title it has worked hard to shake off. There has been a lot of money invested in the beach area, to try and get people into the area, Ridley Park has also been heavily invested in. The town centre unfortunately has been allowed to dwindle away, even Charity shops having to up sticks due to the ever increasing cost of having shop space. Now this is something that this lovely councillor can surely do something about.
However rant over, that wasn't supposed to be what this blog was about. I went for a little walk along the quay with the wife this morning and was ready to post a picture looking along the River Blyth, but decided to go with this image instead. One of the things Blyth has become most famous for over the last 15 years is the windmills, most of which have now been removed from the North Pier. However they have recently installed this beast next to the Alcan Silo's where today it stood still seemingly watching over its kids in the sea.

I'll finish just by saying, Blyth isn't perfect but its where I have called home for over 30 years, and will probably continue to call home for the next 20 too. It has its faults, but its home.

Monday, 4 March 2013

A day to myself today, no kid, no wife, just me, my camera and my phone. So I spent the morning exploring the quayside in Newcastle and then checking into every place I could be bothered too on foursquare.

It had been my intention to take pictures all around Newcastle, but then decided to just stick with the quayside and then go back to Newcastle again sometime soon.

That said I did partake in a little people watching whilst I was in town and also made sure I got the Mothers Day presents in... see this blog will act as a reminder service too.

Tomorrow I get to spend a rare day off with the wife, so I think we will head out for a nice walk somewhere.

I'm thinking about running a competition on facebook and twitter soon to win a canvas of a 365 project image of your choice... let me know what you think.

Sunday, 3 March 2013

So did no-one notice that I had skipped a day in the blog then? I didn't miss a day, just skipped a day in the titles. I apologise most profusely.
Today we decided to have a bit of a walk this morning and we headed along to Tynemouth market and then down to the fish quay at North Shields for a walk around.
I remember as a child going for a walk around the fish quay on a Sunday morning after church. The quay would always be bustling with activity, the quay itself full of boats loading up to go out or unloading the mornings catch.
Its a very different scene today, only 8 or 9 boats in the quay, and only 1 of them getting loaded to go out. When I was a child there were several wet fish stores too, whereas only a handful survive now. A once thriving industry seems to be on its knees. Some of the old fisherman are still about, long since having sold their boats. Their faces etched by years on the high seas. They have experienced things that many of us never will, and sadly neither will many of the new breed of fisherman.

That aside we had a very nice morning, and i'm sure that those still in the industry can still make a very good living.

This afternoon I am off to photograph the adorable Annabel, and I'll hopefully be able to share some of those images with you on my facebook page later on today.

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Aaaaarrrrggghhh not another bloody sunrise I hear you cry. Well if you don't like sunrises then you may very well be one of them weirdo type people. (Only joking people are entitled to like what they like.)
For todays sunrise you have my daughter to thank, for some reason she thinks its a good idea to get up at 6am on a Saturday. So I had a choice, stay in bed and get annoyed with her for waking me up so early or get up, go out and get todays picture done. So thats what I did.
So its now half past 8 and I've seen a beautiful sunrise, chatted with a rather interesting fella from the midlands who was out walking his dog (not all the way from the midlands, he was up for the weekend, imagine if he had walked his dog all the way from the midlands, he'd be shattered), done the shopping, helped the child with her weekend homework and am now just about to tuck into a bacon sandwich.
The rest of the day can only be a disappointment really can't it!

Well enough waffling from me. Today you get a treat, 2 images, the first is my wifes choice, the second is mine.

Friday, 1 March 2013

So I had this grand idea for today's image. I wanted to test out the 5D in a studio style set up and the truth is whilst I still have a lot to learn it is a great performer.
The image isn't exactly how I imagined it but Christine and I both had some fun with it, and also discovered that Christine isn't as great a bubble blower as she likes to think she is. Ideally I was looking for a bubble the size of her head to cover her face in a comedy effect, but try as she might she just couldn't get her blowing technique right.

Hopefully over the next few days I should be able to bring you some decent landscape pictures as I have a few days off work. So if Landscapes is your thing, watch this space.